NYT Letter to the Editor: Conservatives Who Care

Conservatives Who Care

MARCH 23, 2017

To the Editor:

J. D. Vance, through his decision to move back to Ohio to help citizens in need (“Why I’m Moving Home,” Op-Ed, March 16), exemplifies a great bipartisan American tradition: acknowledging personal fortune and giving back to community.

Yet Mr. Vance’s exercise of J.F.K.’s plea to “ask what you can do for your country” is increasingly rare among the conservative elite. The presidency is being used to increase Trump family fortunes; Republican leaders cheer destruction of public services, from Steve Bannon’s purported wish to destroy the “administrative state” to Grover Norquist’s goal of drowning the American government in a bathtub; and Republican members of Congress bitterly denounce those taxes that pay for public protections and social programs while simultaneously lying to their own voters about everything from climate change to Obamacare.

For the sake of the Republic, let us pray that more citizens in the mold of Mr. Vance emerge — citizens with conservative values who understand that caring for fellow community members is a large part of what makes America great.

BEN F. WYETH, MINNEAPOLIS

A version of this letter appears in print on March 24, 2017, on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Conservatives Who Care.